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Friend,
I am running to unite this country, convene the world under U.S.leadership, and to bring about pragmatic progressive policies that move America forward and serve all Americans. My interview below with the Daily Sun in Conway, NH, captures both why I am running and my core beliefs, including on policies. Please read it:
Joe Sestak, the long-shot Democratic presidential hopeful and former congressman who walked across the width of New Hampshire, met with the Sun on Wednesday night at a local McDonald’s to outline his plans to take on China and make the United States united again .
Sestak, 67, of Alexandria, Va., is a retired three-star Navy admiral who commanded an aircraft battle group in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was responsible for 30 U.S. and allied ships, 100 aircraft and 15,000 sailors. He served two terms in Congress representing Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011.
He walked 105 miles from the Vermont border to Portsmouth in eight days from Oct. 13 to 20. In an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2015, he walked 422 miles across Pennsylvania. He was inspired to walk by the book “To Kill A Mockingbird,” in which Atticus explains to Scout, “You never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them.”
Sestak entered the race on June 23, which was much later than the rest of the crowded field.
After visiting Sanbornville and Plymouth on Wednesday, Sestak met a Sun reporter at the West Ossipee McDonald’s for a late dinner. After that, he headed back to Hollis and had events in Raymond and Derry on Thursday. Sestak is speaking in Londonderry tomorrow.
He explained that his now 18-year-old daughter, Alex, had brain cancer when she was 4 years old, and then it came back last year. After his daughter recovered, he felt motivated to get re-involved in politics because he felt someone needs to unite the country and because of the lack of candidates with national security and international leadership experience.
“I sat with her and thought about those senators, Republicans and Democrats both, who voted for that (Iraq) war, left two decades of unaccountable consequences,” said Sestak, adding that war led to the turmoil in Syria and that the same politicians also deregulated Wall Street.
“Democrats and Republicans both voted to tear down the wall that should have been keeping greed out and accountability in,” he said. “Not one politician has accounted for themselves for the vote for that war or tearing down that wall on Wall Street.”
He said that President Donald Trump is a symptom of a lack of trust in government.
Sestak said he’s the man to bring back trust in government and appeal to both Democrats and Republicans.
He points to his ability to win as a Democrat in a 2-1 Republican district.
“They knew I would be accountable to them, the people,” said Sestak of the voters of his home state. “Without an America that’s united again ... we are not going to meet the challenges of our time.”
He said no one on the debate stage has the experience that would be necessary to convene nations to work together in places like the Middle East or against China in terms of trade.
“He (Trump) is right to say China is cheating but you don’t go one-on-one with a nation that has a GDP that’s supposed to pass ours in five to seven years,” said Sestak, who instead would coordinate with other nations around the world to demand China play fair.
Meanwhile, he questions the move towards 5G internet infrastructure because it will involve using a Chinese-made part, which he says will give the Chinese an incredible amount of information about what’s happening in the United States.
Meanwhile, he said the threat from Russia is overstated.
“That’s not a superpower, that’s a gas station,” he said explaining that Russia gets its money from gas and oil drilling.
He recalled a ship from Russia that sat in the Persian Gulf for six months because the Russian navy lacked the money and the wherewithal to get underway.
He said the crew would distill vodka on the ship and once in a while he’d go over and drink with them.
As for the Middle East, Sestak said Donald Trump should have negotiated with other countries to keep the peace in Syria before leaving the Kurds. Instead, Sestak said Trump just left the Kurds, who were promptly attacked by the Turks.
If elected, Sestak said his focus would be on domestic issues. For instance, he said the unemployment rate in New Hampshire is much higher than the 2.5 percent that’s been reported. He said it’s more like 7 percent when one counts the people who have dropped out of the labor force. He would invest in retraining.
“A guy gets kicked out of a coal mine in Pennsylvania because of natural gas becoming cheaper or green energy coming along, we spend less than any developed nation on the labor force,” said Sestak.
“We have to have a program that trains and retrains people because technology changes so rapidly.”
While talking about rapidly changing technology, Sestak pointed to one of the self-order kiosks at McDonald’s. He also said the military doesn’t fire people when their skills become obsolete; instead, those personnel are sent for extensive retraining.
In terms of health care, Sestak supports having a public option that would compete with private insurance. He said Veterans Affairs offers good health care but applying for benefits must be made easier.
His experience in Congress would allow him to identify legislation that would be helpful to small businesses, which employ the majority of people in the United States. He said today, 18 small businesses are being created for every 10,000 working Americans while 30 years ago there were twice as many small businesses per 10,000 workers.
Sestak said all this walking, meeting people in New Hampshire, media coverage and a campaign ads could lead to a primary success.
“This state is wide open,” said Sestak, adding he’s done more than 100 miles of walking in the Granite State between Oct. 1 and 24. “I just have to get in front of people. If the polls start going up how do I get ignored?”
You can also read the article here [[link removed]] . To learn more about my policies, please read my "Plan for America" on my website ( here [[link removed]] ).
Warmly,
Joe
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Joe Sestak for President
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